With a grant from NextEra Energy, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) provided a dinner of beef tri-tip, baked potatoes, asparagus and chocolate cake to the residents at Inspirations senior living facility on Tuesday evening, February 25.
As Tammy Engel, the supervising sheriffs’ administrator for the NCSO put it, “This is one of the things that Joe [Sheriff Joe McGill] really likes, is that community engagement.” Building trust and respect with the community is a vital part of effective policing, of which the sheriff is keenly aware.
“It just gives us an opportunity to talk to some people that don’t necessarily get out in the community very much,” says Sheriff Joe McGill. “We just like to get here and reach out, talk to them, let them know that they’re part of our community, and we’re part of their community.”
Previously, the residents hosted the NCSO for a breakfast, so McGill wanted to pay it back and host this dinner. McGill recalls, “We’ve been here two or three times and done breakfast, and we get a good turnout doing that. We just sit around and talk and have breakfast and coffee and have a good time. People love it.”
Toni Watkins, Inspirations’ Life Enrichment director, talks about the impact these NCSO visits have on the residents. “They [the residents] are so happy to visit with them. They feel like they are protected. They feel safe and secure, knowing that they’re [NCSO] out there taking care of the town,” states Watkins. “It’s very important to them.”
More than ten NCSO personnel shared dinner, laughter and stories with 20-plus seniors. Sylvia Bolton, a resident at Inspirations commented, “I think it’s wonderful. To get to know people, get to know the sheriff. They’re so nice and friendly.”
Another resident, Dee Larson says, “Some of us don’t have family in town or anything like that, and for them [NCSO] to come, and they greet us, and they remember us from the mornings, it’s wonderful. They’ve [the residents] talked about it being a highlight of their month. They see it as respect. It’s a sharing of appreciation of each other’s group.”
John Clausen is a freelance reporter living in Pahrump.